Married to a Food Network superstar, John Cusimano is at the helm of an empire. PLUS: Discuss living under the shadow of a leading woman in our comment section below.

-By David Amsden
-Photograph by Norman Watson

In most respects, John Cusimano's life is perfectly normal. He is a dude from Long Island, 40 years old, with a law degree. He has shaggy, semi-feathered brown hair and a permanently benign expression—"he's the opposite of someone who stands out in a crowd. He spent his high-school days collecting classic-rock records, fiddling with guitars, dreaming of rock stardom, and playing in a little garage band. "We called ourselves the Cringe," he says, "because the music kind of made you cringe." They were terrible, yes, but after Cusimano got older and moved to Manhattan, and even later as he started working at various law firms and got engaged, he never stopped believing that maybe, just maybe, the day would come when he could take the Cringe to the next level. There's nothing odd about this. There are plenty of grown men in the world who cling to adolescent dreams, no matter how ridiculous or unattainable they may be.